Grey water and general waste
All applicable government authorities support and encourage the reuse of grey water in suburban environments and interestingly the same government and health authorities also caution against the storage of grey water even for short periods
Most folk will run grey water directly onto the ground when possible us included. I see no harm in that, and while grey water falls short of its own fan club the broader view of grey water is its not necessarily . It would be an interesting statistic to see what percentage of campers with grey water tanks that are left with the choice would choose to collect grey water when it’s completely acceptable not to.
My guess would be most would just let it flow, and if that’s the case it would demonstrate grey water collection is just because we have to rather than want to and that brings me to the obvious follow-on issue …. when grey water is collected where does it end up ??
Being required to collect grey waste in some free camps by local authorities might seem noble, but Ill wager that in a better-than-average amount of cases the final destination of that captured grey waste is far less than noble. If it’s collected by folk that would ordinarily not collect it would it stand to reason its disposal would be anywhere convenient; possibly thoughtfully but mostly convenient?
Caravans generally have a potable water capacity of at least 180 ltrs carry and the average grey tank is around 60ltrs, we can all do the math on that one. Many nomads permanently free camp, so where do councils think all this captured grey waste is going to end up.
A bigger issue as I see it is the indiscriminate discharge of grey water, basically not caring where it flows. Freecamps by their nature attract a constant flow of residents and its not pleasant to have to camp on the last person’s wet patch. We all have sullage hoses to help direct the flow of grey waste to and more appropriate end point.
We use our grey waste tank when required, but even when left to our own devices and when no-one is looking we’ve always captured everything other than liquid that drops out the sullage. We do that with a small mesh bucket on the ground under the sullage outlet. The mesh strains out anything visible and before we break camp we empty all the pasta noodles and Coco Pops form the mesh bucket into the bin.
Im encouraged to use my suburban domestic grey water as a valuable resource leaving to run free without restriction into my garden. Its also very common for many caravan parks to have no structured sullage system with the expectation camping sullage will freely flow onto the ground. All these caravan parks, some of which are council owned, are bound by the same regulations and health requirements as freecamps are and one in particular we frequent in the dry Victorian Mallee region is the current title holder for Vagare’s Australia’s Lushest Caravan Park Lawn.
In 30 years of camping and caravanning I have never once witnessed anyone empty a grey water tank into a dump point … not once. I’ve watched 1000’s of people emptying toilet cassettes, but never one single grey water tank … ever.
The average fixed grey water capacity is less than 30% of the potable water capacity carried by many caravans I’m not sure how you squeeze 180lts plus into a 60lrs grey water tank.
So where am I meant to believe all this grey water ends up? That’s a rhetorical question, I have a very good idea where it all ends up.
Many councils have found it necessary to install public black water dump points. Council provided dump points help to reduce inappropriate dumping of black water. If there is enough of an issue of black water dumping to require public dump points, Im guessing grey water dumping would be significantly worse.
A few council freecamps require “self containment”, but to clear we’ve only come across maybe 3 or 4 and that’s over estimating. Self containment means in its simplest form that you have the ability capture all of your own waste both grey and black in a manner that is reasonably acceptable.
Promising not to create grey water, or insisting you don’t need to poop anyway isn’t a reasonably acceptable method of containment. Its not about the physical side of grey or black water, its more about the concept of management.
How you collect your grey water is mostly up to you, so long as its a reasonably acceptable method within the concept of appropriate containment. Again, insisting you will poop in a shopping bag and carry it and the $0.99 10ltr open Bunnings bucket full of grey water on you lap when you leave fails the ‘reasonableness’ test.
We have used our 30ltr axillary potable water container which is seal-able, bearing in mind we’ve only needed to 3 or 4 times over many years.
‘Whilst I dont necessarily agree with a lot of the grey waste policies and requirements being placed on freecampers, I will always respect the requirements of the places we choose to stay
Places like this beautiful riverside freeecamp are graciously offered to us and deserve respect for both the environment itself and the local authority which provides it. Use your sullage catchment when appropriate regardless of the requirements of the venue, and offer a friendly reminder to those that aren’t, because some folk are just plain stupid.
If you do choose to visit the freecamp facility that has posted rules and requires containment, have the moral fortitude to show respect for what they ask, or simply drive on and whine and moan about it as you drive away. We all have an obligation to do the right thing and also step up when others don’t. I don’t advocate taking on the Hells Angels during their national run, more picking your target. If the culprits are within your weight division remind them of the rules and common courtesies that apply to all of us, and also remind them that we all want to be able to come back to the venue one day.
I personally would never have a disgusting, stinking grey waste tank in my van. The thought of carrying around a vile toxic festering hive of bacteria makes my skin crawl. Grey water tanks are very very difficult to clean effectively and untreated grey water turns toxic in a very short period of time. The bacteria levels of stored grey water will far exceed that of black water very very quickly. Grey water straight from the sink or shower is far from harmless, but its most certainly infinitely less harmful than stored untreated grey water which will often end up indiscriminately on the ground somewhere anyway.
I don’t need a grey water tank to be responsible, in fact I would strongly argue I’m more responsible without a grey tank than most people are that have grey tanks. I’m conscious and careful with what I do with my grey water all the time, not just when there’s a sign and people might be watching me. We always filter out all solids from our grey water at the sullage outlet, we capture all our coco pops, pasta noodles and engagement rings in the filter. If we are close to a water course we will also catch the liquid and pour it out on alternate nearby trees well away from the water courses.